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Right.

So this Saturday, I am removing the Raffles reward. I don't like doing them anymore, and apparently $250 USD for ~30 seconds of animation isn't enough motivation for others to animate raffles on my behalf.

I would like to replace the Raffles reward tier with something else, but I don't know what.

What all would you guys and gals like to see as a replacement for the reward tier? Or, alternately, even if you yourselves wouldn't like to see it, what do you think would be a good thing others might want to see instead?

Feel free to either write in your idea as a private message, or post it here as a comment.

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Comments

the_randomizer89

Do what you feel is the best option, I mean I could personally use an extra 250 given that my job situation is...well anyways, do what you must, keep up the good work, man

Hivedragon

Uhm maybe a picture reward instead

Anonymous

I agree with Hivedragon. Maybe a pinup or poster would be a good replacement and it requires less work.

lordaardvarksfm

Well, I don't personally think anyone would consider a poster worth $20, even if it's a really good one. But then, I'm a complete miser. I personally think $15 is too much for early access, let alone a 1080p render of an otherwise-free 720p video. So my opinion isn't really valid there. Similarly, I also have to keep in mind that *in theory* the rewards aren't "buying" things, but supporting artists. So that $20 isn't going to "buying a picture", but "showing support" and getting a picture as a freebie. I'd love to hear some feedback on this thought.

Anonymous

If you put it that way, it does sort of make sense that 20$ is a little bit too much for a poster. What about comics than? 2 to 4 pages of sfm comics sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me. Not sure if that'll require more work or less. Just an idea for you to consider.

lordaardvarksfm

I kinda like the comic idea. It's been too long since I've made a comic. The biggest question to that, then, is how many panels comprises a "page"? Consider this really old comic series of mine, where a "page" was 3 panels: <a href="http://imgur.com/a/Xl04D" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://imgur.com/a/Xl04D</a> (for posterity's sake, here are all the episodes made for it: <a href="http://imgur.com/a/aEiqs" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://imgur.com/a/aEiqs</a> )

Anonymous

I think the problem with animations is more that ppl like me for example animate in blender instead of SFM. or that we don't know if our quality would be enough, as you set kind of a standard ^^ (my stuff would need more polish i think. also i am still just working on my own female base + rig so i can start making characters) As for rewards: how about more insight into your work. (i don't know how SFM works but: could you for example release setups of old animations? and would ppl like that? or maybe a different angle for an animation)

Anonymous

Maybe 3 to 4 I'm thinking. Set a maximum panel so the raffle winner knows the limits. And also a page limit, too. In that way, it's easier to write a script for you to do your magic.

lordaardvarksfm

I don't think the Blender one is necessarily as big a concern, though the standard one is possible, as well as the fact that there's a sort of valley of supply-versus-demand: most of the animators who are willing to animate for pay are picked up by Fow, and most of the remaining animators are people like me and who prefer working on their own projects at their own pace. As to the insights, I have a YouTube series where I show tips and tricks for 3dsmax + SFM. I don't think I have enough of a "fellow SFM user" base that a reward for animation project files would work. It's a good idea in theory, but I just think it's a wrong demographic. For the variant angles, that might have worked back when i focused on doing shorts, but now that I have shifted focus to length pieces... That's a bit more difficult. Consider that the sex scene for Blue Star Episode 2 took me about 50 hours to render. Alternate angles for that? Another 50. A bit obtuse. They're good ideas, and I appreciate the input, but ultimately I just don't think they'll really work.

lordaardvarksfm

Maybe a simple 10-panel limit. My only fear is that comics will go the route of Patreon raffle animations, where I come to loathe making them - they take a lot of work, arguably as much as simple animations, but instead of the effort going into animating, it's going into changing poses for every frame, and potentially even building entirely new scenes between panels. But I'm willing to give it a shot, if Patrons are.

Anonymous

Than I would recommend giving it more restriction. Like two scenes/environment only, 5 characters max or 3 positions tops. Sure, it'll make the idea more limited and the scope smaller for the raffle winner, but I think it's best to set more limits so you don't have to frustrate yourself over it and you can save more time for your main projects. Like what you said, it's about supporting you, not paying for the comics.

divebomber

Has a big fan of your models, I would love a raffle where you could take a model you have done and then add some materials to make it look different. ie Miranda in something other than her ME uniform. Just don't know how many of your supporters are learning SFM. Or just more tutorials?

lordaardvarksfm

Yeah, I think you're definitely onto a good idea here. I think I'll prototype it this month. When I formally close the raffles on Saturday, I will at the same time announce the transition to comics, give people a week to adjust or withdraw their pledges as appropriate, and then roll a raffle for the first comic, too. The goal is that I will be able to get comics done faster, while I work on the leftover raffles.

lordaardvarksfm

Outfitting takes a lot of work. Anywhere from 1-5 hours, depending on the model and outfit. I mean, it's something that could (and has) been done on stream. I mean, for example, this weekend's stream is going to be Cassie's default outfit. And outfitting is something I enjoy, and seeing as it'd be on models that I've already done, it means I have an interest in them. So, I don't know. It's worth considering. I think what I might do is make that slot be a sort of semi-wildcard, where the winner can choose from between these different choices: comic, old animation releases (if they still work, which they may not due to model changes), outfitting a made character, a tutorial video on a subject... Maybe casting the net wide enough will yield a large enough union of demographics to make the reward worthwhile.

lordaardvarksfm

Hell, maybe even throw in "alternate render of single scene from existing film", too. So, for example, someone could request an alternate angle of the face-fuck from Blue Star Episode 2, or the scissoring from Episode 1. Again, assuming the project files even load (Episode 1 won't out of the box, since I updated Liara's model, and I don't think I could salvage it). But something like that, maybe.

Anonymous

Glad to be of service. Hope everyone will be okay about the change. You have my support no matter what. Keep up the great work and good luck.

divebomber

tks for replying. I really like that idea of options for winner of raffle. just know I am just happy with all you have done with SFM. As someone learning SFM, I can appreciate the work it requires to do this.

Anonymous

I was thinking of contacting you about those 30 second animations, but I'm freelancing and currently contracted full-time for a project until next spring, so I decided to wait :) My idea (and my own future plan) is to have some limited interactivity. Like, import models + animation into Unity / UE4, add a bit of dialogue for flavor and allow the user to rotate the camera. Also: possible option for VR viewing, yay! I'm fluent with Unity, learning UE4 and I'm all but married to Blender, plus 18 years of software development. Maybe we can work something out in the future?

Maria Luna Celeste

Um. How about instead of a reward, more of the regular stuff? Like making your regular stuff longer? Or getting your projects done faster without the distraction of a monthly mini-project like the raffles. I'm fine with just you doing the big stuff.

Username159

There's always a vote system. Have a few quick scenes roughed out and have us unwashed masses vote on what gets finished. Or the occasional vote on which old scene gets updated/redone/a sequel. Both these ideas would be a prosses with a scene taking a couple months so you have more time on the big projects.

Yetila

How about creating a list of projects you done before with a continuation of another scene + new projects you want to do and letting people vote on what they want to see next? Personally I'd like to see more Samus stuff and a sequel of the 3min Alori vid :) If you wanted to take it further how about the start of each month, have a week/day dedicated to patrons sending in suggestions and the most common idea gets accepted or placed on the list, if a winning idea is not found then just leave the list as is.

HuhnDoener

I like the idea, makes more people want to enter the raffle and be happy with the result while you dont get to work on the same things over and over again. And if something wont work out you can just scrap it but still have other options. In addition you could create a poll where all the 20$ can vote what Short they want to have released next. You give the options and we choose. People then can comment ideas on new shorts etc. to give us some more creative input you CAN pick up.

Anonymous

You could do what another artist I follow does and make a vote for the steps in a sequential series, or raffle out who gets to choose. He just doesn't put things he doesn't want to do as options. He does a CYOA comic, but you could also do sequential scenes in a longer animation etc.

7x57AckImp

What if you did one of your Faith clips with input from the winner?

lordaardvarksfm

I'm not going to lie, it's kind of disheartening whenever people confuse me with other people. I have NEVER done anything with Faith, and I don't even know who the hell Alori is (at Yetila). You people are thinking of someone else.

Anonymous

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Anonymous

Is this an advert in another creator's patreon comments?...

Anonymous

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